The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus and a control method therefor, and a semiconductor device manufacturing method and, more particularly, to an exposure apparatus which operates on the basis of a parameter file containing a set of parameters and a control method therefor, and a manufacturing method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using an exposure apparatus controlled by the control method.
When a device pattern is to be projected and exposed to a wafer by a semiconductor exposure apparatus, a recipe (parameter file) for controlling the exposure process must be prepared for each device pattern. A recipe is formed from 1,000 or more parameters including layout information, alignment information, and information about exposure. Exposure apparatuses of different models require different recipes, as a matter of course. Even exposure apparatuses of the same model require difference recipes depending on the version of software.
For these reasons, a recipe for an exposing apparatus cannot be directly used for another exposure apparatus. The recipe needs to be corrected in accordance with the function and the like of another exposure apparatus. Conventionally, to use a recipe for an exposure apparatus in another exposure apparatus, the number of parameters in the recipe is increased or decreased in accordance with the function and the like of another exposure apparatus using an automatic converter, thereby reconstructing the recipe.
However, the conventional automatic recipe converter has only a function of increasing or decreasing the number of parameters. The converter cannot automatically correct the values of the generated parameters to be adapted for the function and the like of another exposure apparatus. Hence, conventionally, to convert a recipe (parameter file) for an exposure apparatus into the recipe generated by the automatic converter must be manually corrected using a recipe editor to be adapted for another exposure apparatus. Such manual correction is very time consuming. In addition, an operation error may occur.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object, for example, in an exposure apparatus which operates on the basis of a parameter file containing a set of parameters and a control method therefor, to automatically convert a parameter file for another apparatus or a parameter file, which is not adapted for an apparatus into a parameter file adapted for the apparatus.
According to the present invention, there is provided an exposure apparatus which operates on the basis of a parameter file containing a set of parameters, comprising an acquiring section which converts the parameter file acquired by the acquiring section into a parameter file containing parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus, and a changing section which changes values of parameters contained in the parameter file converted by the converting section, on the basis of a configuration file which describes the parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus and appropriate values of the parameters.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the converting section preferably deletes some parameters contained in the parameter file acquired by the acquiring section and/or adds parameters to the parameter file acquired by the acquiring section to generate the parameter file containing the parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the acquiring section acquires the parameter file from e.g., an external device (e.g., another exposure apparatus or a managing apparatus for managing the parameter file). Alternatively, the acquiring section may acquire the parameter file from a memory medium.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method for an exposure apparatus which operates on the basis of a parameter file containing a set of parameters, comprising the acquiring step of acquiring a parameter file, the converting step of converting the parameter file acquired in the acquiring step into a parameter file containing parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus, and the changing step of changing values of parameters contained in the parameter file converted in the converting step, on the basis of a configuration file which describes the parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus and appropriate values of the parameters.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device manufacturing method comprising the application step of applying a photosensitive material to a substrate, the exposure step of transferring a pattern onto the substrate to which the photosensitive material is applied in the application step using an exposure apparatus controlled by the above control method, and the developing step of developing the photosensitive material on the substrate to which the pattern is transferred in the exposure step.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program which runs on a computer to generate a parameter file that contains a set of parameters and is used in an exposure apparatus, comprising the acquiring step of acquiring a parameter file, the converting step of converting the parameter file containing parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus, and the changing step of changing values of parameters contained in the parameter file converted in the converting step, on the basis of a configuration file which describes the parameters necessary for controlling the exposure apparatus and appropriate values of the parameters. The computer is, e.g., a computer configured to control the exposure apparatus.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.